Just in case they hadn’t realized it before, NFL boss Roger Goodell sent a pretty strong message yesterday.
It’s his league, you’re just players and coaches.
Goodell is carrying a very big hammer, and he’s not afraid to use it.
Just ask New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton. A couple of years ago, he walked off the field as a Super Bowl champion. Now he’s just walking off the field.
Goodell yesterday came down on the Saints like a ton of bricks for a team policy that paid cash bonuses for injuring players. Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season – without pay.
Sean Payton makes $7 million a year.
The man at the center of what of course is now being dubbed “Bounty-gate,” former Saints defensive coordinator Greg Williams, has been suspended indefinitely.
I still don’t know why anyone is surprised that teams put up “bonuses” for KOing opposing players. The not exactly Saintly Saints were just dumb enough to make it a policy.
That does not mean I condone taking cheap shots and deliberately trying to injure opposing players.
But does anyone really think for a minute that every team that played the Eagles last season was not trying to knock Michael Vick out of the game?
Anyone else remember Vick complaining about how he wound up on the ground every time he dropped back to pass? Coincidence? I think not.
This is not exactly new ground here. The Eagles under Buddy Ryan once offered a bounty on a kicker, of all things.
Goodell is walking a tight rope here. There is mounting concern over injuries – in particular head injuries – and the long-term effect on players. The Saints also did not do themselves any favors by being less than forthcoming with the commissioner when word first started leaking out about the bounties.
But Goodell needs to be careful about how far he goes. Football is not a contact sport. It is a collision sport. The violence is part of its appeal, at the heart of what is a billion-dollar enterprise.
No one is going to pay to watch touch football.
NFL Films has made the brutal nature of pro football into art.
I don’t think much will change in the NFL, aside from no one admitting that they are looking to knock out opposing players.
But Goodell certainly has gotten their attention.
Just ask Sean Payton.
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